


I'm Home, Keith

by AlgotTheGreat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Married Characters, Older Characters, One Shot, One-Sided Attraction, Pining Lance (Voltron), They have feelings and I'm just hurting them, Time Travel, klance, this is kinda a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-12 04:30:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15331788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlgotTheGreat/pseuds/AlgotTheGreat
Summary: Lance wakes up in a room he has never seen before,he's back on earth,he looks older and...he's married to Keith.Why does the situation feel like a dream he never wants to wake up from?





	I'm Home, Keith

Lance had woken up in a room he couldn't remember. A part of him felt like he should but there were no memories of a bedroom like that one. It was simple, like something his parents would have decorated, with whites and blues and pictures hanging on every wall. The sun was finding its way through a window and Lance slowly got up to see where he was.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a beach, and it looked like earth. How had he ended up there, he couldn't ever remember the last mission he was on. What had happened and why was he back on earth of all places. He had to figure it out and thought that the best thing to do would be leaving the room. That was a good start.

But on his way out of there he saw something, something was wrong with the mirror he had just passed because that couldn't have been him. He took a step back and the face he was met with made him horrified. It was him... but there was something different, not just something... a lot! He looked older, and more tired to say the least. He dragged his hands over the rough skin and they made their way over a scar on his right cheek. He didn't know where it had come from, but a part of him knew it was a battle scar. He hair looked like it had started to turn gray indicating he surly wasn't a teen or youth anymore. Lance looked at an adult version of himself.

He quickly made his way over to the door he meant to have opened and was greeted by a hallway leading to more rooms. He saw stairs, which he guessed would lead him to the ground floor hopefully. He had to get out and find out where he was, and how he would get back to... wherever he now was before.

When he took that first step down the stairs he could hear something, it sounded like... someone singing? It was coming from downstairs and the voice was deep, and familiar to Lance. And something familiar was the one thing Lance knew he needed in that moment, so he started running down the stairs in hope of being greeted with anything helpful. He made his way to where the singing was coming from and froze at the sight before him.

It was Keith, cleaning what seemed to be a kitchen and singing to himself. That wasn't the Keith Lance knew, Keith wasn't...cheerful. This _other_ Keith was older as well, he had scars just like Lance and his hair was longer. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept in years or something. Keith, or older Keith, turned around and his eyes grew wide when they landed on Lance. Sadness flashed over his face, but then he started smiling at Lance, running over to him and hugging him tightly.

"Lance, you're awake! Did you sleep well? Want me to make you breakfast?" Keith broke the hug, but stayed close to Lance, looking so happy to see him which threw Lance off completely.  

He didn't know how to react. The man, who he thought _hated_ him, smiled at him so fondly making his heart go nuts. He had always had a crush on Keith, but trying to hide it behind jokes and being rivals. That's why this whole situation felt like a dream, and Lance didn't want to wake up.

"Keith, is it really you?" Lance placed his hand on Keith's cheek, feeling it, trying to figure this all out. Keith leaned into it, and looked at Lance with something he would describe as.. Love? That's when he saw it, a ring on his left hand and he backed away from the man standing in front of him. His back slammed against a wall and he must have looked horrified, judging by Keith's shocked expression.

"You don't recognise your own husband? Lance did you have a weird dream or something? Is that why you're so jumpy today?"

 _Husband?_ Keith was his... husband? That couldn't be right? They hated each other, well _Keith_ hated _him_. He didn't respond at first, what was he going to say to this Keith, who had married him, who was in love with him. Something was wrong, he couldn't remember anything that had to do with marrying Keith or building a home together, that was something he would remember. What if... This was all some weird space trick or just a dream, a really realistic dream.

"I.. ehm..." Lance hesitated, he didn't know how to respond to anything Keith had just asked him so he just took a chance, like he always did.

He stepped closer to Keith once more, cupping his face in his hands and pressed his lips to Keith's. A surprised noise left the other man at first but he then started kissing back. The kiss was sweet and Lance felt like he was on cloud nine. Keith's lips were dry, just like he had imagined, but there was something that made him want to kiss him forever. Then Keith started crying, and Lance broke them apart to look at the man breaking out in ugly cries in front of him.

"What is it Keith? Mi amour" Lance wiped away a couple of tears and pulled Keith in for a hug. Feeling tears making their way down his back making it damp.

"...missed you..."

Lance had no idea what was going on, and he knew he had to figure it out sooner or later, but right now Keith was crying in his arms and that was all he cared about.

"Hey, I was just asleep Keith, I'm here now."

A chuckle left Keith's lips as he hugged Lance tighter, not wanting to let him go.

*

Lance had learned he and Keith had gotten married after the war, that's what he had figured out from all the photos hanging around the house anyway. Photos of the whole group together, posing in front of the lions looking all proud and happy. They all looked older, which made Lance wonder how long the war really went on. There were photos of him and Keith, the other older versions of him and Keith, sharing wedding vows and just looking so incredibly happy.

Lance had made the discovery of it being some kind of future dimension he had gotten himself into. Everything he remembered seemed to have happened here as well, there were pictures of him at the Garrison he remembers being taken. But there was this huge gap of things he couldn't remember, like he had missed out on the past twenty years of his life. Twenty years that he had spent with Keith, and he didn't remember anything about it which made him frustrated. This is the life he wanted, a house by the beach, being back on earth, everyone was safe and he was married to Keith. But this life wasn't his.

"What are you thinking of?" Keith interrupted Lance's train of thoughts and carefully touched Lance's cheek, the both of them laying in their bed.

"Nothing, just... How did I end up so lucky? I'm married to you! I actually married Keith Kogane!" Keith chuckled at his words and shuffled closer to Lance, who turned to his side to face Keith.

"It feels like forever ago when we would be at each other's throats all the time, do you remember?"  Keith said with a gentle voice, eyes locked on Lance, full of emotion.

"It feels like it was just yesterday..." Because it was, yesterday Lance had been in another fight with Keith, his Keith, and he didn't even remember what their fight was about. He didn't even know why he felt the need to argue with him, maybe it was because if he did Keith would never find out about the feelings he tried so desperately to hide. The feelings that would never be returned, unless he was in an alternative universe where Keith somehow loved  him back.   

Suddenly Keith's lips were pressed against his and he couldn't think anymore. This wasn't the Keith he knew, but it was a Keith who loved him and he didn't want to let that go. He knew that he couldn't stay in this universe forever, it wasn't his place to be. But when Keith's lips made their way down his neck he couldn't care less about where he belonged or not. All that mattered to him in that moment was that he was there and Keith wanted him, thinking could come later.

*

It had been a week and Lance had fallen into a new way of living. He was a married man and from what he had figured out, Keith wasn't the best at housework. He could do dishes, sure, but the whole place was filled with dust and Lance had spent the past two days cleaning. The house he found himself  in had two floors, but it wasn't nearly as huge as he thought it would be. It was charming and big enough for two people, he and Keith never had any kids it seemed like. Not that he knew how they would fit kids into their life, with missions coming out of nowhere and not being home for years sometimes.

When he was cleaning he found something, under Keith's bed. It was a box, and it was filled with letters from, what he guessed, himself in this universe. They were all dated and the last one was sent two years ago, and that's when it hit him. Maybe he was dead. He had clearly gone on a mission two years ago and written to Keith every single day, but then he had just stopped... This future Keith probably thought his husband returned when he had found Lance, who had crashed outside his house, their house.

Lance was filled with guilt, he had to tell Keith the truth about who he was. That he wasn't the man he had married, who he was in love with, who had gone on a mission and disappeared and that he hadn't returned. He was just Lance from another time, hopelessly in love with a Keith who didn't love him back. A Keith he wanted to get to know more and stop getting into fights with. He wanted them to get closer, and build a friendship that could hopefully become more. But that was just a wish, and he didn't believe in those anymore.

He had put the box back where he found it and got up to find Keith right away. He wasn't going to get more lost in this perfect reality where he had everything he dreamt of. He had to let it go. That was the right thing to do.

*

_You know it isn't real, so why are you pretending everything is okay..._

*

"Keith! Keith!" Lance was searching the house for any sign of Keith, but he couldn't find him anywhere and he wasn't answering to his name. He then saw that the door was open and figured out Keith had probably gone for a walk, so he went outside to see if he could catch a glimpse of black hair somewhere. And he did.

He could see Keith by the ocean, the sun was setting and it was only the silhouette of him. But he would recognise Keith anywhere, so he made his way over to where he was standing. 

"Hey Mullet, why are you standing out here all alone?"

Keith chuckled and turned around, he smiled.

"Mullet? You haven't called me that in years"

Lance was caught off guard, was that a giveaway? Would Keith figure out it wasn't him now? He didn't mean to tell him just flat out like this?

"I... You know, I was just feeling nostalgic all of a sudden..." _smooth recovery Lance._

"Is that so..." Keith turned back to the ocean, then sat down and patted the spot next to him, for Lance to take a seat. "I feel like a teen again Lance, with you bringing up these old memories. And sometimes I feel like that was a better time..."

Lance had taken his seat next to Keith, who's head had fallen to rest on Lance's shoulder.

"Better? How?" Lance asked,  curious to know more about Keith's feelings. More about their relationship.

"That feeling of adventure I guess, us flying around in space trying to figure out our next move... falling in love with you between battles..." Keith smiled. "I never thought you would love me back you know? Sometimes it felt like you didn't even wanna be in the same room as me... But you did like me.. That kind of surprises me to this day"

That would never apply for his Keith would it? The Keith he knew snapped at him as soon as he opened his mouth, and couldn't stand being with him at all. If only his reality was this, a Keith who loved him, had loved him, for god knows how long.

He hesitated, did he want to shatter this reality now, because he didn't know anymore. The right thing to do wasn't the thing he wanted, if only he could live in this reality for just one more day. Maybe he didn't have to tell Keith today, because the sun was setting and he had never seen Keith look more beautiful than he did right then. That's why he did what he did next.

His hand moved over to Keith's, who looked at Lance with big eyes.

"I thought the same thing, for a really long time too. But right now, I'm here with you of all people and I couldn't be more happy Keith. It's like a dream"

After Lance spoke the last word Keith leaned in and kissed him. It was tender and soft, but Lance got a weird feeling from it. It wasn't like their resent ones, this one possessed something else.

_Sadness._

*

Everything was hot and Lance wanted him, he wanted Keith to be pressed even closer to him than ever before. He touched the other man so gently, almost like he was going to break and reveal this to be another one of Lance's dreams. A moan left Keith's lips and Lance wanted nothing more than to hear it again.

_You have to tell him._

"Lance..."

_You can't keep doing this._

"Lanc-" Lance had kissed him, and he didn't even hesitate to return the movements. He didn't want to do anything else than be embraced by the Lance he loved.

_You know this is just a lie. That's not him. Keith, you know better than to think this is real. Think of Lance._

"Lance, we need to stop this." Keith finally managed to say, out of breath and pushing Lance off him. Lance looked at him with confusion, not entirely sure what made Keith want to stop. "I... I'm...I'm not the Keith you're in love with"

"What do you mean..." Lance didn't understand what he was saying.

"I'm not who you're in love with Lance!" Keith started shouting, like something had suddenly broken inside of him "and you are not the Lance that I love..." He then said, tears starting to blur his vision.

"You mean... you knew... I wasn't..."

"Yes, of course I did! I know Lance, _my Lance_ , he's my husband for god's sake and you are not him! And I'm not the Keith from your universe or wherever you came from! You are in love with who I was twenty years ago, and I thought this could work. I thought you and I could get what we both wanted but it didn't work Lance..."

"So what you are trying to say is... that you have been using me? Is that it!" Lance snapped.

"Like you haven't done the same! You and this other Keith don't share the same feelings and you have been using me to get some kind of outlet for it, am I right?"

"Listen here Keith! You are no better than me, just because your husband is dead or something doesn't mean that you can just use me to pretend everything is okay!"

"He's not dead!!" Tears fell from Keith's eyes, anger and sadness reflecting in them. "He's not dead..."

*

Lance needed to get back to his timeline somehow, but he didn't know any way for him to do so. His lion was working just fine, but he had to open a wormhole and that's why he couldn't leave. He didn't know how to do it.

Keith wasn't talking to him, last night had ended with Keith storming out of the bedroom and he had locked himself inside the guestroom. Lance knew he had hurt him, but Keith wasn't innocent either. They were both at fault because of their actions. But Lance didn't want things to be like this, he liked Keith and he needed his help to find a way to get back to his universe.

He had counted on Keith being mad, and hurt by finding out Lance wasn't from here, but what he didn't count on was seeing him cry like he did. Lance had gone for a walk when the sun had gone up, and when he came back he saw Keith sitting by the bed, with the box Lance had found the day before. And Keith was crying.

"You know, I didn't want him to leave that day. But it was an important mission for him and he told me it could take months. So I told him to send me letters, and I still don't know how he did it, but every day I would find a new one outside the door. He told me about his day, and what he had figured out about the planet he was visiting." Keith smiled through the tears. But it soon disappeared.

"Then the letters just... stopped... and I don't know why. I contacted Allura and the others to check if they knew something about where he could be. Nothing, they knew nothing. I wanted to look for him, I tried, but it was all in vain. He was nowhere to be found. So I just stayed here, in our house. Hoping that one day he would walk through that door again, so I could hug him, and scream at him, and never let go of him again."

Lance walked over to Keith and sat next to him, listening to everything he had to say. He wanted to cry, seeing him this hurt and broken killed him inside.

"Then I saw your lion Lance, or my former one, Red, and I was so happy you know. I saw it crash and I just ran, I just ran to go and get you. I climbed inside and got you out of there, took you home and changed you out of the armour. You looked just like him, but something was missing..." Keith reached out for Lance's left hand, and ran his fingers over it. Then he took it off, the ring that Lance had seen on his finger that first day.

"It's a good thing we are the same ring size" Keith chuckled, but not masking the sadness in his eyes when he put it on his empty ring finger. How hadn't Lance noticed.

"He never took it off you know, no matter the battle, he always kept it on. I found him ridiculous sometimes, how he treasured that piece of gold so much. But I understand him now, it's a symbol of our bond. What we have been through and what is left to come, and that we will always be there for each other. And I knew you weren't him, but I wanted to pretend. It's been so long without him, and I miss him so much" His eyes had turned into waterfalls, the tears didn't want to stop. "I love him. I'm so sorry I have been so selfish. I'm sorry Lance"

Lance leaned in and hugged Keith tightly, it was the only thing he could do.

"It's okay Keith, I'm sorry too. Ugh, I really don't want to leave you like this".

"But you have to..." Keith said quietly. 

"Yeah... I have to go..." Lance said, and hugged him tighter.

*

 _He's leaving me again. It hurts. But that's not him, I have to let him go._  
  


*

"Allura sent me the details and the wormhole will open in a couple of minutes. It will send you back to where you came from, using coordinates from you lion's last whereabouts. You just have to fly right through it and you can get back to your friends." Keith was hard to read, because after yesterday he had been off somehow. It was the Keith Lance recognised from his own dimension, kind of cold and focused. The Keith he admired in secret and never got close to.

"So it's that simple? Man I could have gone back ages ago!"

Keith didn't respond. He just turned away from Lance and muttered something similar to "So why didn't you". But Lance didn't catch that.

He was happy to go back to his team, but a part of him felt bad for leaving Keith all alone in this dimension. He didn't really have a choice, because he couldn't stay, it wasn't his place to be and hopefully the Lance that was missing would come back. Keith deserved to be happy.  

He was back in his armour and it felt just right. It would take a while for him to get tired of being a paladin. He got into his lion and just sitting there made him miss his team a bit more. But soon he would be with them again.

"The wormhole is ready in just a few ticks, get ready Lance"

Lance started his lion and it let out a roar. He had really missed this. He took off the ground and made a few loops in the air, the feeling made him shout from happiness.

"Lance, you don't have time for showing off, it's going up!"

A light shot through the sky and a wormhole started forming just a few meters away from Red, it was time to go home.

"I guess this is goodbye, Keith." He said, fighting back tears he didn't know were there.

"Go Lance! Before it closes!" Keith's voice was like ice, no emotion. Lance knew it was his way of locking his feelings inside. He was hurt.

Red started racing towards the portal and the radio began to glitch. That's when he heard Keith voice again, different this time, as he was calling out his name.

"Yes Keith, what is it? You're starting to cut out!" Lance shouted.

"There is one other thing!"

He listened to Keith's voice, which was getting less audible the closer he got to the wormhole.

"Talk to him..." It was weak, then it cut off and Lance knew what he had meant. Soon everything went black and Lance woke up.

*

He recognized the room he was in this time. It was his room, in the castle he had spent god knows how long in. He didn't know how long he had been sleeping, but the feeling of hunger started making itself noticeable. His door opened and Hunk walked in with food in hand, like he could read Lance's mind, or just hear his stomach from a mile away.

"How are you doing buddy?" He sounded worried, but Hunk was always worried.

"Better now when I might get some food in me. How long have I been out? What happened?"

Hunk sat down on the bed next to Lance, handing him the bowl with his improved version of food-goo, which Lance happily started digging into.

"You've been asleep for three days... I don't know if you remember our last mission, it was bad... This alien was shooting lasers at us and everything it hit disappeared into some kind of wormhole. Voltron was such an easy target so we split up, it was your idea by the way! And it worked!" He smiled at Lance. "But then, before our final blow, it aimed at Keith... and you took the hit, and the next second you were gone."       

Lance looked down, trying to remember the battle Hunk had described, which he started to. He remembered how he had seen the monster aim towards the black lion, the one Keith was in... and he acted before he knew it. The last thing he recalled was hearing Keith shout his name.

"What happened next Hunk? Why am I here now?" He couldn't really think about the food anymore.

"Well, after we had defeated the Alien we didn't know what to do, so we thought of flying back to the castle... But then you appeared from a wormhole, in Red, just ticks later and we brought you back here. We couldn't get a response from you, so we let Coran run some tests. He said we should just let you sleep... Which Keith wasn't too happy about. He has been really on edge since that battle..."

"So I was gone for like, ten dobashes? Where did I go?" Lance felt like he should know, there was some kind void inside his head, like he was missing something important. _Someone_ important.

"We thought you could answer that, according to Allura and Coran the alien can open portals into other dimensions or something. You don't recall anything after you were hit?"

"No... I don't... It's just pictures and I don't know what they mean" Because all Lance could remember were details. Someone singing, a box, pictures of some kind of family and a ring. He didn't know what they meant, or how they were connected, but all he could think about was one person. Keith. He felt like it had something to do with him.   

"What was it that you said about Keith? He was worried?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, he's been checking on you every day just to see if you have woken up, it's a surprise I got here before him today" He suddenly went quiet. "I feel like I shouldn't have told you that. I have a feeling he doesn't want you to know that."

Lance felt his face heat up, just the thought of Keith being worried about him made his heart beat like crazy. Maybe that meant he didn't hate Lance like he had thought all this time.

"You gonna tell him I'm awake?"

"Only if you want him running over here and cradle you in his arms" Hunk laughed at the face Lance was making at his comment, he didn't want to talk about that memory. "I'm messing with you, I'm telling him you want to see him Lance, because that's what you want am I right?"

_Talk to him..._

Silence. But then Lance spoke.

"Yes, I want to see him"

*

"Lance? It's me, Keith. Can I come in?"

The door had already opened before Lance could answer and he just let out a noise of affirmation that it was okay for Keith to step inside. Keith looked nervous and Lance kind of understood why. This wasn't their usual dynamic, ten ticks together in a room would usually end with screaming. But none of them felt like screaming, and Keith was the first to speak up.

"So... what happened to you?"

Lance gestured for Keith to take a seat on the other side of the bed, and he awkwardly made his way over to sit down.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything? I think that after the monster was defeated I returned or something, and that I had this weird dream when I was out" Because it felt like a dream, the things he did remember were blurry and just parts of a puzzle he couldn't solve. But he was sure of one thing, he had dreamt about Keith, and it felt so real compared to the other ones he had.

"That sounds reasonable. What did you dream about?" Keith asked him.

He didn't want to answer, because how would he explain having a dream about his rival. And on top of it all, the dream had been romantic, Lance just knew it. That's not something he wanted to tell Keith of all people. So he just sat there in silence.

"Fine, don't tell me. I didn't even want to know. It was probably about Allura anyway" Keith stood up. There it was again, the cold voice he had heard not long ago, in his dream. Keith was upset, but why?

"I'm telling the others that you're okay" Keith said and started walking towards the door. Lance got a feeling in his gut that he should stop him, and not let him leave his room right then.     

"I had a dream about you" Lance finally said, kind of regretting it the moment it left his mouth.

Keith stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Lance. "What?"

"When I was sleeping. I had a dream about you and it was nice and all but..." He swallowed hard. "I felt kind of sad when I woke up..."

"Why is that?" Keith's voice was shaking. He was nervous.

"Because I didn't want to leave you"

*

Keith was alone once again, in a house that was too big for him and he was crying. Lance was gone, he had returned to his universe and that meant Keith was back to normal. The sad life he called normal at least because what was even a life without the man that he loved so deeply. It was hard, not knowing if your spouse was even alive and there hadn't been any updates on his whereabouts in years. Keith was lost without Lance, the man had given him so much over the years they had been a team and now he was gone. Maybe forever.

Keith could suddenly hear a key, and the front door being unlocked. He didn't believe it at first, because of the many times he had gotten his hopes up. But a part of him still wished for Lance to walk in through that door one more time. And he did.

The door opened and a tall man walked in. His hair was brown with tints of gray, he had bags under his eyes from sleepless nights and age. His clothes were torn and a bit worn out but it was still him. His Lance.

"I'm home, Keith"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> I have been working on this for a couple of months now, the idea has been there for a while now and I finally wrote it down. This has been a distraction from finishing other projects, but I just really liked writing this! It's been a learning experience for me and I'm proud of how it turned out. It's really cheesy I know, but I needed some happy klance. 
> 
> Hope you found some joy in reading it!
> 
> EDIT:  
> I never thought so many people would like this, I just wanna say thank you for leaving so nice comments and I hope to be writing more fanfics soon! ^^


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